Make your own vanilla extract
January 16th, 2009
Wouldn’t you be happy to get this as a Christmas gift? I read Catherine Newman’s post about making homemade vanilla as Christmas gifts and thought, Brilliant! I’m gonna do that this year! So we did.
I bought a dozen 4-ounce clear Boston round glass bottles and 20 organic Tahitian vanilla beans (I actually received 23 beans). Troy went to BevMo and picked up a couple of liters of vodka. (The helpful Beverage Consultant even recommended this specific brand of vodka, which she thought would bring out the vanilla flavor without overwhelming it. Uh…sure, okay then!) I gathered those supplies along with a cutting board, a clean pair of scissors, a measuring cup and a funnel.
[UPDATE 12 October 2011: The company I originally bought vanilla beans from seems to be on hiatus. Last year I bought beans from the company Vanilla Products USA on eBay, and they were good value for a good product. Or you can just do a search on eBay or Amazon for “vanilla beans” and do your own comparison shopping, of course. Also, I’ve used other kinds of vodka, rum, and bourbon and they all worked just fine—though I think vodka has the most neutral taste. For more questions answered, check out my blog FAQ.)
I also gathered my two lovely and capable assistants, Annalie and my mom Debbie. Really, Annalie did do a lot of the work! Because she’s only four and a half, my mom and I had to help her with cutting the beans and pouring the vodka into the measuring cup, but she was able to do a lot on her own. If your kids are a little older they could probably do this project almost entirely by themselves.
For each bottle of vanilla, you’ll need 2-3 beans and 1/2 cup of vodka. I fudged a little and used something like 1 3/4 beans in most of my bottles, and it turned out plenty vanilla-y. Including the cost of shipping the bottles and the vanilla to my house and the ribbon I tied on the bottles, all the supplies cost me about $50, which means each bottle of vanilla cost a bit more than $4. That’s pretty inexpensive for a cool, useful Christmas gift!
First, we used the scissors to cut each vanilla bean in half lengthwise and then again crosswise.
We stuffed all the bean pieces into the bottles, seven or eight pieces per bottle. I found it easiest to count out the beans first and then hand one bottle and one pile of beans at a time to Annalie, so we didn’t lose track. Once the beans are in the bottle it’s kinda hard to count them.
We got vanilla-bean flecks and sticky juice on our fingers, but it washed off easily and as a bonus made our hands smell yummy.
After we’d distributed all the beans into the bottles, I poured a half-cup of vodka into the measuring cup. My mom held the funnel in the bottle while Annalie poured the vodka in. Then Annalie screwed on the cap.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat till all the bottles are filled and all the lids are on.
I lined up all the bottles in the window because they looked pretty there. The photo above was taken right after we finished filling all the bottles.
Three days later, the vodka had gone from clear to a pretty amber color. Ideally the vanilla should steep for at least a month, till the vanilla is a dark brown. The longer it steeps the stronger the vanilla flavor will be. We didn’t make ours till December 20th, so I just added a don’t-use-until date to the labels.
The vodka, by the way, is just a fairly neutral alcohol base for the vanilla flavor. Vodka is usually between 70 and 80 proof, containing 35-40% alcohol by volume. Commercial vanilla is made—you guessed it—by steeping chopped or macerated vanilla beans in a mixture of water and at least 35% ethyl alcohol. Same thing, more or less!
Sometimes it’s really handy to have a good friend who’s a graphic illustrator! I oh-so-casually mentioned to Brenda that I needed to make labels for the vanilla. Being the nice person she is, she just laughed at my obvious hinting and offered to design one for me. Thanks again Hugh!
Troy and I were talking about how the only ingredients in this vanilla were vodka and vanilla beans, and Troy said, “Don’t forget the love!” That totally cracked us up, so I asked Brenda to put that on the label, along with the best-if-used-after line. Incidentally, if I ever start a food blog it’s totally going to be called “Love, Vodka & Vanilla Beans.”
I tied some festive ribbon around each bottle and added a little handwritten tag clarifying the fact that the the date on the bottle wasn’t the expiration date.
I hope all the recipients enjoy using their homemade vanilla. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make another batch because I gave it all away and I want some homemade vanilla too!
Edited: I forgot to mention…there are a few more photos of the process in the set homemade vanilla extract on Flickr.
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You and Brenda have been so wonderful tonight posting so late. My reader was empty and I have four hours of my shift to go – so seeing you two post late was a blessing!
That is such a great gift idea!! I may have to try that one.
I am totally doing this with the boys some time! What a neat homemade Christmas gift. “Love, Vodka and Vanilla Beans” would be a fabulous cooking blog title.
I love this so much! Definetly gonna try it…Thanks
gosh, this looks easy enough for ME to do! Thanks for the tutorial! :)
This looks amazing! I’m telling you, when you break down an activity, it makes me think “I could totally do that.” I’ve always loooooved vanilla extract – when my mom would bake, I would always ask to be in charge of the vanilla bit since I loved the smell. Too funny, that Annalie was in charge of the vodka. :)
I love this post too. And not just because I get to be in it. But that helps too. xoxox Hugh
Lovely – thank you for sharing the step-by-step and photos. So I take it you haven’t actually cooked with it? I am curious to hear if it tastes stronger or different than the commercial vanilla. This is a great idea for thinking ahead to next Christmas – cool!
Perfect gift. You guys are awesome.
What a fabulous idea! They are so pretty and thoughtful. I am totally printing this post out to use for gifts next year.
Very cool idea, Bethany! Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to try this soon.
I had no idea you could do this!
Though I would be tempted to make a cocktail with the finished product :)
Love this!!! Who knew it was such a doable task – thanks for the inpsiration!
Oh, what a brilliant idea! The lesson here, obviously, is to always make an extra for yourself. :)
That’s pretty cool!
Hi,
We did this for Christmas too! But you made it look so pretty! Smelled wonderful, didn’t it?! And I agree, Love, Vodka and vanilla is a great title for a food blog…
This is awesome! I Stumbled it :)
Yes, I think you should have a food blog.
I am so antsy to use my vanilla!!!!!
I love this. I wanted to make some a few years ago, but like anything else it got pushed aside. Perhaps I will do it this year, perhaps.
That seems so neat! I wanna make my own ‘nilla extract now.
very cool! i bet brenda’s going to get some orders for vanilla labels. :)
forgot to ask – are you supposed to take the bean pod out after it’s steeped enough?
I don’t think it matters. You could take it out, but if you leave it in it just gets more vanilla-y.
Could you just keep adding vodka until the bean stop coloring it? The perpetual vanilla jar.
GREAT IDEA!!
And, I’m about to tell you something very, very sad…
I grew up in a house in which imitation vanilla was used. Now that I’m an adult and have used the real stuff? I can NEVER go back. NEVER.
Oooo, I can just smell it! What a marvelous idea and it turned out so pretty to boot!
And thank you for your kind words, I often think of you while the spell check is humming. I sometimes have words it cannot fix so I have to come up with a word I can spell.
Very cool idea – will definitely have to try it in the future!
Fascinating!
This is a super idea and I’ll definitely going to try it. I wonder how much it cost per bottle. And how does the taste compare with commercial vanilla extract?
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Hi! I stumbled on this and what a GREAT idea!! Now I have a couple of questions….is it used the same as commercial vanilla and WHERE did you get those Bottles?? Also, I have heard of people doing this with burbon….other than the obvious difference, what is the reason for Vodka vs Burbon??
I have a 4 year old grandson who would love to do this with Gran!!
Thanks SO much!!!
Cool! I would make one myself too. Your friends are lucky to get them.
this looks amazing! i love the labels and the ingredients list…
How very cool!
Great gifts are often home made.
Wow! How fun and neat is that!?
Very lovely! Much easier than I thought it would be to make vanilla.
Not only is this a fantastic gift idea, it’s also amazingly simple and cheap! I love making things like this from scratch and I had no idea making vanilla extract would be this easy. I will definitely do this! Thanks for sharing.
[...] I actually helped Brenda with the puppet-show theater. She mentioned that she needed boxes for her puppet show to me, and since we had a few big boxes leftover from the move, I offered to bring them up and help her out for an afternoon. (Hmm, that sounds a lot like the way I just happened to mention to Brenda-the-Graphic-Illustrator that I needed labels for my vanilla bottles.) [...]
This is a fantastic gift idea! Thank you so very much!
My fiancee and I are getting married next month. I think this will be our first gift to our families as a married couple, next christmas! So cheap and easy, and such a sweet gift idea! Everyone uses vanilla…might as well be REAL vanilla instead of the artificial junk!
I JUST did this a couple months ago, and i used absolut vodka along with a little bit of good rum… and fresh vanilla beans from the health food shop. Apparently rum is what the real purists use, but a 5:1 vodka:rum ratio is very generous.
I gave it to my mom as a gift and she already used it all up. “i’ve never tasted vanilla like this! it is so much more subtle and delicious than even the health food store vanilla that i’ve always bought!”
I wonder what else we can make at home that takes the science out a little bit and puts the love back in?
Wow what a great idea! How much did this end up costing you? I bet it’s much less than purchasing vanilla extract! Is this how you make any extract?
Wow!
I totally want some Love, Vodka, & Vanilla beans!
Your comment about older kids doing this all on their own reminds me of what a trustworthy kid you were. A lot of 12 yr olds (myself included) shouldn’t have been left unsupervised around alcohol. :)
Brilliant! Thank you.
I really didn’t know how vanilla extract was made even though there’s some in the kitchen.
Guess what I’m going to do next week!
Thanks for sharing. I was searching some easy to made DIY gift ideas. It will be my next project. I usually buy Costco brand vanilla extract for baking, can’t wait to compare the taste. But I guess homemade is always the best.
Thanks so much for sharing this!
Great!
I have heard of doing this with high quality white rum versus vodka. Maybe this would add a bit more of a sweet note to the extract. I imagine as long as it’s a strong clear liquor it works just as well. Also, like someone else mentioned I’ve heard that you can kind of just keep topping it off with more spirits for a while to extend the “life” of the bean pods.
Wonderful! Great bottles too. I used much darker green bottles to protect them from the sun, but after seeing your way, I’m not sure whether I am or am not supposed to block them from UV. In any case, I made way too much, and there’s a batch sitting on my cabinet for over 8 months (and I’ve heard that 6 months was the peak of taste somewhere).
Anywho, cute labels!
how neat!!
i’ve seen something like this before, but i really like your bottle and packaging, totally looks ike you went out and bought gourmet vanill extract for your friends/family!
i bet it tastes so good!!!
and thanks for letting us know about the type of vodka :)
Deck! I love it. Sweet.
This reminds me of 1979 when we went to Saudi Arabia to live when my husband got a job with Saudi Arabian Airlines. There is no legal alcohol there so we made our own. It was called Sediki . We would take the moonshine put in the vanilla beans and sugar and let it set for 6 weeks. Voila! Kulua
We also did a gin with potatoes, sugar and oranges. The longer it set, the better it got!
Just a tip: Light will cause flavor loss. As a result, dark bottles should be used or the bottles should be stored in a dark place. Heat will also reduce the lifespan as well.